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Activating The Safety Net To Protect Threatened Changemakers

By their nature, changemakers are disruptive. Yet shaking up the status quo comes at a price, and tragically in many places around the world, promoting innovative and positive social change bears physical risk. From death threats leveled against activists defending a minority’s rights in Brazil, to general social unrest or political violence against pro-democracy movements in Egypt, to gangs targeting youth in America’s inner cities, states of insecurity and fear grind social change to a halt and put the brakes on sustainable economic progress.

Though they often go unrecognized, security and stability are fundamental considerations for any social impact activity, and they form a crucial foundation for any prosperous society. Such a crosscutting issue demands a crosscutting approach, and through networks, changemakers can mitigate risks and overcome vulnerabilities.

Safety Matters to Changemakers

For Valdenia Paulino, the risk inherent in her work escalated to such a point that it threatened her life. A Brazilian social entrepreneur and human rights lawyer, Valdenia began organizing open community hearings in São Paulo. By providing the space for disenfranchised communities for the first time, especially in urban favelas (slums), she assisted marginalized youth and adults in voicing their challenges and denouncing violations of their rights. “In this scenario,” says Valdenia, “public security was transversal.”

When she started to receive death threats because of the accusations made in the hearings, Valdenia and her husband Renato moved to Paraíba, in Northeastern Brazil, in 2009. There, the government invited her to serve as state Police Ombudswoman, charged with monitoring corruption and abuse of power in the police force. Valdenia accumulated evidence and indicted some officials with criminal activity, such as collusion with death squads and trafficking in illegal firearms. After suffering robbery, telephone tapping, and anonymous threats because of her allegations, imminent physical danger forced Valdenia and Renato to flee the country. In spite of this, Valdenia’s courage, determination, and commitment to social change continue to fuel her. “If, one on hand, it saddened us to leave our work so abruptly, on the other, we know that these persecutions occurred because we were on the right path,” she said. Valdenia credits much of her strength to global and international networks. Partnerships with Ashoka, Front Line Defenders, Freedom House, and the National Endowment, in addition to many of her local contacts, quickly activated around her as a safety net. Such a network approach is critical for all changemakers to prevent a threat and to assess and respond to one as soon as it arises. A trusted safety network acts as a “barometer,” carefully gauging events on the ground that increase your vulnerability, and as a “shield,” safeguarding you from pressing risks. The most effective networks are cross-sector and global: a business entrepreneur in São Paulo or Miami with the right contacts among the federal Brazilian authorities can offer more to a changemaker in crisis than a well-meaning but limited neighborhood organization in the same area.

Activating the Safety Net for Venezuela

Last week, social unrest in Venezuela reached new levels as student protests against the government of Nicolas Maduro turned violent. Maduro, the political heir of Hugo Chavéz, and his government have escalated polarization in the country, while presiding over skyrocketing inflation, shortages of basic household goods, and an astronomical murder rate.

Under considerable threat are many members of the Venezuelan citizen sector, whom the Maduro administration has branded as fierce opponents of the state. Carlos Correa, a social entrepreneur and founder of the leading accountable media portal Espacio Público characterizes the government’s action against human rights defenders as a “strategy to publically de-legitimize [them] while legitimizing official policies and norms against human rights.” After the government cracked down on student protests, killing three people, the federal Minister of Justice named a number of human rights defenders and social activists as conspiring to incite violence. Now, these changemakers are facing undeniable physical threat.

Carlos says that in situations like Venezuela’s, “there are certain safety protocols that peer networks based elsewhere can provide to someone without them. Manifesting and activating these networks will help you to protect yourself.” Regional collaboration among changemakers is critical, suggests Valdenia. “State violence and social inequality are Latin American, not just Venezuelan, issues. Networks must respond on a regional level, irrespective of the country where each stakeholder comes from,” to ensure the safety and security of Venezuelan changemakers. Carlos agrees: “There is a universe of contacts. What’s important is that you can say that you have a social fabric around you.”

3 Steps for a Changemaker’s Safety Net

New instances of social unrest seem to erupt every day, and dangers to changemakers are accelerating, not abating. To achieve a world that values and enables positive social change, we all must commit to guaranteeing its safety. Even simple steps can help make a world safe for changemaking.

Reflect on the inherence of safety. Raising awareness of how security is a fundamental, crosscutting issue establishes a necessary baseline. Education reform takes for granted that schools are safe places for kids to learn; microfinance assumes that recipients can safely launch their venture and pay back the loan without paying back ransoms.

Stay alert. Insecurity and unrest can arise at anytime and anywhere. Keeping aware of new and increasing vulnerabilities to changemakers will guarantee that you can react at a moment’s notice. Amnesty International’s Urgent Action Alerts and Human Rights Watch are good places to start.

Contribute your networks for changemakers. Who among your professional and personal colleagues has a stake in safety and security? Who might be able to provide a safe haven, legal or psychological counsel, or rapid response for a changemaker under threat, or prevent a threat from occurring in the first place? Your network could mean the world to—and save the life of—a changemaker.

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